‘The Last Exorcism’: How the Film Proved Critics Wrong

Following in the footsteps of low-budget frighteners “The Blair Witch Project” and “Paranormal Activity,” “The Last Exorcism,” a supernatural horror movie produced for under $2 million, scared up $21.3 million at the box-office this weekend, exceeding expectations to become the weekend’s most popular movie. [UPDATE: Final figures released on Monday place "Takers" at No. 1 with $20.5 million and "The Last Exorcism" at No. 2 with $20.4 million.]

Styled as a mockumentary, the film benefited from an effectively eerie marketing campaign from distributor Lionsgate and a last minute viral video push, which shows people on the video chat network Chat Roulette reacting to a pretty young woman who undergoes a terrifying transformation. The clip clocked in some 2.4 million views on YouTube in a week.

“It was the icing on the cake,” said David Spitz, Lionsgate’s executive vice president of theatrical distribution, speaking of the Internet buzz. “It created an event status for the film.” Indeed, younger web-savvy moviegoers made up the vast majority of the audience; according to exit data, 65% were under 25. The film also roped in a Latino audience—a demographic that made up 54% of the movie’s ticket-buyers.

“We had recognized the genre and the themes overindex with that community,” said Lionsgate publicist Stacey Mooradian. “As part of our overall strategy, we definitely had a Latino push.”

Produced and promoted by horror film director Eli Roth, the film’s opening was in line with Roth’s directorial debut “Hostel,” also released by Lionsgate, which grossed nearly $20 million, though on 679 fewer screens, during its debut frame.

Going into the weekend, however, there were plenty of naysayers. CinemaScore, the marketing research firm, gave “Exorcism” a disastrous D rating. “We were shocked,” said Spitz, “but clearly, the CinemaScore doesn’t always equate to box office.”

While critical support doesn’t usually make a difference with horror films, Spitz pointed out that reviews were fairly supportive, with the film garnering a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But few box office analysts predicted the film would win the weekend.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com’s Box Office division, believes the success of “Exorcism” just reaffirms the strength of the genre. “The devil is a pretty consistent performer at the box office,” he commented in an email. “People are endlessly intrigued by tales of demonic possession. It may be as simple as the fact that horror movies (good or bad) are just so much fun in a darkened movie theatre with a group of other freaked out moviegoers.”

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.